Our Books
Surprise Decodable books follow a structured scope and sequence designed to develop phonics skills. Our books are based on the most up to date brain-friendly, Science of Reading research. We have intentionally chosen the unique format of print on one page followed by a surprise picture for the reader on the next page. Children will need to use only their decoding knowledge to solve the print before turning the page for the pictures. The pictures both confirm the meaning of the text and offer delightful surprises. The pictures are laugh out loud funny and engage students in conversation and meaning making. Young readers will get to know the adorable, animal character friends, fall in love with them and be motivated to read about their adventures.
Science of Reading
What is the Science of Reading?
The Science of Reading refers to a body of research from the fields of education, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and neuroscience. This research explains how individuals learn to read and the best practices for reading instruction. We want our instruction to be brain friendly for all students to ensure success.
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How do Surprise Decodable books align with this growing body of research?
Our books, follow a structured scope and sequence of phonics skills. This allows students to build on previous skills and helps students to store and retrieve their orthographic knowledge. Reading connected text helps the skills “stick”. We have written several books for each phonetic pattern to help ensure mastery.
As well, our books provide meaningful, joyful interactions with text which is often lacking in decodable text. We know if engagement and motivation are high, learning skyrockets. Our books and pictures, with their unique format, stimulate rich conversations and access to complex ideas. We have carefully thought out Before Reading and After Reading discussion points and questions to ensure engagement and knowledge building.
We know from Science of Reading research that building strong, robust vocabularies is essential for reading success. In our books, we have therefore, listed vocabulary building activities at the end of the book. We have incorporated many activities that stretch the vocabulary learning beyond our decodable books. These include activities such as brainstorming and categorizing words, as well as building semantic gradients. In addition, we often identify a high leverage vocabulary word or words to teach and explore in relation to the text.
Surprise Decodables will help children get off to a joyful, brain friendly start in their reading journey.